Conventional shower head designs include those having a shower head housing with a plurality of passageways allowing various water sprays to flow from the shower head. Furthermore, shower heads having a surface with a plurality of passageways, or nozzle orifices which utilize a backing disk having a plurality of resilient and flexible nozzle tips protruding through the nozzle orifices are known. The resilient nozzles of these known shower heads allow for convenient elimination of the build-up of calcium or other deposits by manually flexing the resilient nozzles when it appears that material is collecting therein. In these known shower heads, the entire nozzle is formed of a resilient and flexible rubber which does not match the finish of, e.g., a brass or chrome shower head.
The use of adjustable shower heads is known in the prior art. More specifically, adjustable shower heads heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Conventional faucets are available in various designs for kitchens, bathrooms, baths, corporate faucets and water systems. The faucets can be a rigid or flexible design and generally is fitted with an aerator at the terminal water discharge port.
Water conservation is becoming a major issue for many cities and an apparatus for monitoring water usage at a specific residential, governmental or corporate sites could be useful in supporting water conservation.
One type of an adjustable shower head or faucet includes water supply piping assemblies that are conventionally constituted by a hose which may be in the form of a flexible tube protected by metal coils or in the form of a plastic hose optionally including braiding. In either case, the hose is generally linear in shape and has a length lying in the range 1.25 meters (m) to 2 m. When not in use, the hose hangs down into a bath tub or other bathroom fitting where it is often dirtied by contact with dirty water.
Sometimes the hose can be hidden away in a chute (requiring a hole to be made), in which case it dirties a volume that is inaccessible for cleaning. The hole often leads to water seeping under the bath tub. Furthermore, these drawbacks (difficulty of storage and problems with dirt) make it undesirable to install a longer hose, even though a longer hose would often be convenient when the shower head is in use. As a result of shower hoses not being long enough, they are often damaged by the user pulling on them.
Anti-scalding pressure balance and thermostatic temperature control valves are becoming an important part in bathroom plumbing because the attempt to minimize scalding and cold water shocks that can occur in a shower when a toilet is flushed or a faucet is turned on.
Accordingly, a need remains for an remote apparatus with one or more displays either with analog or digital means certain parameters, such as total shower time, flow rate, total volume, and temperature.
In additional, this is a need for an adjustable shower or bath head or water supply piping monitors water usage to encourage water savings and promote careful conscientious use of water and energy resources. In the shower or faucet embodiment, the present invention satisfies such a need by providing a remote display and controlling apparatus that is convenient and easy to use, provides adequate reach and adjusting capabilities for various applications, and is attractive in appearance.
Controllers are used on a wide variety of devices and systems for controlling various functions in homes and/or buildings and their related grounds. Some controllers have schedule programming that modifies device parameter set points as a function of date and/or time. Water parameter controllers, for example, are employed to monitor and, if necessary, control various conditions within a home, office, or building. Such devices are useful, for example, in regulating any number of water sources including for example, temperature, flow rate, cumulative time water is flowing, calibration methods, programming features, etc. The remotely located water parameter display and controlling apparatus may include a microprocessor that interacts with other components in the system wired or wireless technology. The remote display apparatus (user interface module) is designed to have remote communication with temperature sensors, water flow sensors, and timing circuits that are in close proximity to a water supply (water parameter collector unit). For example, a sensor located remotely from the user interface module and/or at one or more remote locations may be employed to sense when the temperature reaches a certain threshold level, displays cumulative time and flow parameters, causing the controller unit to send a signal (e.g. cell phone, smart phone, or similar apparatus) to activate or deactivate one or more components in the system.
The remote water parameter display and control apparatus may be equipped with an interface that allows the user to program and adjust the water parameter sensors at one or more locations within the building. With more modem designs, the interface typically includes a liquid crystal display (LCD, LED, OLED) panel inset within a housing that contains the microprocessor as well as other components of the controller. In some designs, the interface may permit the user to program the controller to modify certain functions or display, or activate on a certain schedule determined by the user. For example, the interface may include a separate menu routine that permits the user to control the time a water source is on or allow access at one or more times during a particular day. Once the settings for that day have been programmed, the user can then repeat the process to change the settings for the other remaining days.
The remote display apparatus (user interface module) may have one or more push buttons located in close proximity to the controller or utilize soft buttons that are programmed to be utilized with a touch screen display, or a rotating outer mechanism can be used to assist selected certain soft buttons to perform program instructions, change settings, or input passwords. A microcontroller or the like typically receives and interprets the signals from the push buttons and implements the desired function. It has been found, however, that some users have difficulty controlling and/or programming their controllers using such pushbuttons, particularly those users that are not familiar with modem computers and/or computer interfaces. Programming or settings activators can be used to modify a shower on/off period, modify displayed parameters order or selection, color schemes, Bluetooth, Zigbee or WIFI settings, calibrate the temperature, water flow and timing sensors, temperature over-set point, time sent-point, flow rate set-point, detect broken sensors, define a shower hold-out period, modify the display of parameters, or input passwords.
The display means must be able to provide sufficient lighting in shower conditions. In addition, the display means must be able to sustain capability in moist wet conditions.